CHINA has been buying up big volumes of Australia wheat this year.
According to data from Bloomberg, Australia made up a whopping 63 per cent of all Chinese wheat imports for the year to the end of October, a number aided by the lack of easy access to Russian and Ukrainian product.
This compares to 28pc of imports for 2021 and just 15pc in 2020 Bloomberg said.
A tick under 5 million tonnes had gone to China from Aussie ports by the end of October and with the export program still humming along the figure for the full year will easily exceed that mark.
This is the biggest volume of wheat sent to China since data collection began in 2004.
The buying spree comes in spite of trade tensions in a number of other agricultural commodities, with a Chinese anti-dumping case against Aussie barley exports still before the World Trade Organisation.
Australia had a record crop in 2021-22 and is expected to surpass that figure this year, with official Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences data pointing to a wheat crop of 36.6 million tonnes, a 1pc increase on the previous record.
This record is driven by a near faultless year in Western Australia, while there are large volumes on the east coast, although quality is mixed due to weather issues associated with the wet season.
Demand for grain is likely to be strong into 2023 due to the ongoing Ukraine conflict, with the non-traditional buyers for Australian wheat that emerged due to the lack of Black Sea product likely to be on board once again.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
